Nitride-based light emitting device

• US 7,977,665 B2
• Filed: 07/25/2007
• Issued: 07/12/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Suzhou Lekin Semiconductor Company Limited
• Original Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC. & LG INNOTEK CO., LTD.
• Inventors: Moon, Yong Tae
• Primary Examiner(s): Jackson, Jr.; Jerome
• Assistant Examiner(s): PAGE, DALE E
• Application Number:
  US11/878,642
• Publication Number:
  US 20080023690A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,448 Days
• Field of Search: 257/85, 257/94, 257/102, 257/103, 257/13, 257/14, 257/15, 257/28, 257/22, 257/E29.072
• US Class Current: 257/14
• CPC Class Codes: B82Y 20/00 Nanooptics, e.g. quantum optics or photonic crystals
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 33/06 within the light emitting region, e.g. quantum confinement structure or tunnel barrier
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 33/12 with a stress relaxation structure, e.g. buffer layer
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 33/32 containing nitrogen

Abstract

A nitride-based light emitting device capable of achieving an enhancement in light emission efficiency and an enhancement in reliability is disclosed. The nitride-based light emitting device includes a light emitting layer including a quantum well layer and a quantum barrier layer, and a stress accommodating layer arranged on at least one surface of the quantum well layer of the light emitting layer.

Claims

1. A nitride-based light emitting device comprising:

a first-type GaN-based layer having a first conductivity;

a second-type GaN-based layer on the first-type GaN-based layer, the second-type GaN-based layer having a second conductivity; and

a light emitting layer arranged between the first-type GaN-based layer and the second-type GaN-base layer, the light emitting layer comprising at least one structure including;

a quantum well layer and a quantum barrier layer; and

a stress accommodating layer to accommodate stress arranged on at least one surface of the quantum well layer,

wherein the structure comprises a repeated structure in an order of the quantum barrier layer, the stress accommodating layer, and the quantum well layer.

2. The nitride-based light emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the structure comprises a repeated structure in an order of the quantum barrier layer, the stress accommodating layer, the quantum well layer, and the stress accommodating layer.

3. The nitride-based light emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the stress accommodating layer has an in-plane lattice constant higher than a lattice constant of the quantum barrier layer and lower than a lattice constant of the quantum well layer.

4. The nitride-based light emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the stress accommodating layer comprises a super-lattice layer including semiconductor layers deposited alternatively, the semiconductor layers having different in-plane lattice constants.

5. The nitride-based light emitting device according to claim 4, wherein the super-lattice layer has a thickness corresponding to ⅓

or more of a thickness of the quantum barrier layer.

6. The nitride-based light emitting device according to claim 4, wherein each layer of the super-lattice layer has a thickness corresponding to 1 to 10 mono-layers.

7. The nitride-based light emitting device according to claim 4, wherein the semiconductor layers of the super-lattice layer comprise a first layer comprising GaN and a second layer comprising InGaN or AlInGaN, the first and second layers being alternately deposited in a repeated manner.

8. The nitride-based light emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the quantum well layer of the light emitting layer comprises InGaN.

9. The nitride-based light emitting device according to claim 8, wherein, when a content of Indium in the InGaN is expressed by “

x”

in In_xGa_1-xN, “

x”

is 0.2 to 0.4 (0.2≦

x≦

0.4).

20. The nitride-based light emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the stress accommodating layer includes:

a first layer having an average in-plane lattice constant higher than a lattice constant of the quantum barrier layer; and

a second layer having an average in-plane lattice constant lower than a lattice constant of the quantum well layer.

21. The nitride-based light emitting device according to claim 20, wherein the first layer has an energy band gap greater than that of the quantum barrier layer and the second layer has an energy band gap smaller than that of the quantum barrier layer while the energy band gap of the second layer being greater than that of the quantum well layer.

23. The nitride-based light emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the stress accommodating layer comprises gallium and nitrogen.

10. A nitride-based light emitting device comprising:

a light emitting layer comprising at least one quantum well structure comprising;

a first quantum barrier layer;

a stress accommodating layer arranged on the first quantum barrier layer;

a second quantum barrier layer arranged on the stress accommodating layer; and

a quantum well layer arranged on the second quantum barrier layer,

wherein the stress accommodating layer has an energy band gap ranging between the energy band gaps of the first or second quantum barrier layer and the quantum well layer, wherein the energy band gaps of the first quantum barrier layer and the second quantum barrier layer are different, wherein the stress accommodating layer is arranged to accommodate stress applied to the quantum well layer, and wherein the quantum well structure comprises a repeated structure in an order of the first quantum barrier layer, the stress accommodating layer, the second quantum barrier layer, the quantum well layer, and the first quantum barrier layer.

11. The nitride-based light emitting device according to claim 10, wherein the stress accommodating layer has an in-plane lattice constant ranging between in-plane lattice constants of the first quantum barrier layer and the quantum well layer.

12. The nitride-based light emitting device according to claim 10, wherein the stress accommodating layer has a thickness of 1 to 15 nm.

13. The nitride-based light emitting device according to claim 10, wherein at least one of the stress accommodating layer, the quantum well layer, the first quantum barrier layer, and the second quantum barrier layer contains an n-type dopant.

14. The nitride-based light emitting device according to claim 10, wherein the stress accommodating layer contains Indium in an average content of 0.1 to 5%.

15. The nitride-based light emitting device according to claim 10, wherein the energy band gap of the second quantum barrier layer is greater than the energy band gap of the stress accommodating layer.

16. The nitride-based light emitting device according to claim 10, wherein the second quantum barrier layer has a thickness smaller than a thickness of the first quantum barrier layer.

17. The nitride-based light emitting device according to claim 10, wherein the quantum well structure further comprises a second stress accommodating layer arranged on the quantum well layer.

18. The nitride-based light emitting device according to claim 17, wherein the second stress accommodating layer has a super-lattice structure.

19. The nitride-based light emitting device according to claim 17, wherein the second stress accommodating layer has a repeatedly-deposited structure of a GaN layer and an InGaN layer.

22. The nitride-based light emitting device according to claim 10, wherein the stress accommodating layer is located between the first quantum barrier layer and the second quantum barrier layer.

24. The nitride-based light emitting device according to claim 10, wherein the light emitting layer is arranged between a first-type GaN-based layer and a second-type GaN-base layer.